Tobacco policies and changes in the tendency of smoking cessation in cigarette users in Chile: a longitudinal cross-sectional study

Objective To assess the impact of tobacco control regulations and policy implementation on smoking cessation tendencies in cigarette users born between 1982 and 1991 in Chile. Design Longitudinal cross-sectional study. Setting National level. Participants Data from the National Survey of Drug Consumption (Service of Prevention and Rehabilitation for Drug and Alcohol Consumption). A pseudo-cohort of smokers born between 1982 and 1991 (N=17905) was tracked from 2002 to 2016. Primary and secondary outcomes measuresPrimary outcome was the tendency to cease smoking conceptualised as the report of using cigarettes 1month or more ago relative to using cigarettes in the last 30 days. The main exposure variable was the Tobacco Policy Index-tracking tobacco policy changes over time. Logistic regression, controlling for various factors, was applied. Results Models suggested a 14% increase in the smoking cessation tendency of individuals using cigarettes 1month or more ago relative to those using cigarettes in the last 30 days (OR 1.14, CI 95% CI 1.10 to 1.19) for each point increment in the Tobacco Policy index. Conclusions Our study contributes to documenting a positive impact of the implementation of interventions considered in the MPOWER strategy in the progression of smoking cessation tendencies in smokers born between 1982 and 1991 in Chile.